


Never as Cold as Your Fears

by AquilaMage



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Gen, Team as Family, cuddle piles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 15:43:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9242498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquilaMage/pseuds/AquilaMage
Summary: As awesome as being a giant robot is, there are some things that aren't the same.





	

“…why don’t we take five?” Killian’s voice brought the training session to a halt.

Simultaneously, the three regulators stopped in their run-through of various maneuvers. Carey and Killian drifted off to one side of the dome to take a water break, while Noelle stayed relatively close to where she was, one of her hands tracing the engraving of her bracer.

She couldn’t feel the bumps and indentations that made up the pattern marking it as something separate from the rest of her robot body parts. The only time she could even notice it was there was when she had experimentally toyed with it shortly after being initiated, just to see what would happen. It could come off, and much easier than for any other member of the Bureau, but the bracer had been fused to the circuitry in her arm enough that it made her processor a little fuzzy if it was messed with.

Even the metallic _ping_ it made when she flicked its surface was indiscernible from the one that resulted from acting on the rest of her exterior. Her internal fan spun a bit quicker than normal, letting out a momentary hum.

“What’s up Noelle? Sprain a gear again?” Carey stood on tiptoe on the bench, half-draped over Killian’s shoulder to get a look at her teammate. When Noelle didn’t respond, she tilted her head to the side, leaning further forward. “Okay, not my best, but seriously, what’s up?”

“Oh no, I’m fine.” She tried to give a shrug to emphasize her point, but it had always been hard to emulate nonverbal communication with such a rigid body structure.

Carey’s expression left it unclear whether she didn’t understand the intent behind the movement, or she didn’t believe the statement. She opened her mouth again, but was interrupted when Killian lifted the dragonborn off her shoulder with one arm and turned around, depositing her closer to Noelle.

“Alright, talking’s gone on long enough that you can move instead of hanging off me constantly.” Punctuating her comment with a nudge to one shoulder, Killian picked up her crossbow and went back to adjusting it.

“Hmm.” Carey lightly backhanded her elbow, quickly drawing her hands forward and shrugging when Killian turned around. “You know you can tell us whatever, right? We are teammates after all.” Still facing Noelle, she tapped one heel into the back of Killian’s leg.

This time, she swept around, picking Carey up and hugging her so her feet couldn’t quite touch the ground. “Not this time.” Her face was set, although there was a playful hint to the gruffness of her voice. As Carey retaliated in the only way she could – hitting Killian with the edges of her tail, the two quickly devolved into pokes and tickling.

They only stopped, Killian holding Carey upside down and Carey practically crawling over Killian in an attempt to get free, when they noticed Noelle. “Now there’s definitely _something_.”

Again, Noelle did her best to appear as neutral as possible. “Nah, really, there’s nothing to talk about.” And it wasn’t a lie, either. If you couldn’t even put what you were feeling into words, then talking was pretty pointless, right?

“Can’t fool me. Your screen went a bit dimmer than usual, so something has to be bothering you.” Killian raised her eyebrows. “It might be a bit more difficult for me to hold you upside down,” she gestured at the robot body that was taller than even her, “but I think I could manage something for you.” Placing Carey on the floor, she took a step forward and laid a hand on the upper section of one of Noelle’s arms. “Spill it.”

The tone was more playful than demanding, but Noelle didn’t really process it. In fact, the moment the orc woman touched her, everything but that one point of contact disappeared from her awareness. That was it. The small gesture of comfort sent a shudder through her system because she realized that as much as she appreciated the kindness, it still didn’t change the fact that _she couldn’t feel it_. She lifted her other arm, then lowered it slightly before inching it to the other side of her body.

It seemed like an eternity, but eventually she had sandwiched Killian’s hand between one of her own hands and the arm. She kept very still, willing for there to be any response besides a faint awareness of a space between the two body parts. Still nothing.

Carey leaned into Killian, and the two exchanged glances before turning back to Noelle. Without warning, both took one of her arms and started leading her towards the exit to the dome.

“Hey, wait, aren’t we supposed to be training more?” was all Noelle could manage in her confusion.

“This _is_ training. We’re doing a teambuilding exercise.”

\---

Neither of them let go of Noelle until they had safely deposited her on their shared couch. Sitting across from her in a chair, Carey perched on one of the arms, Killian leaned forward, hand hovering just above the metal surface of one knee. “You know it doesn’t bother us that you’re a robot, right? I’ve said it before: I think it’s freaking awesome. Still do. You’re cool as hell; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“No, it’s not that.” With the gentlest touch imaginable, Noelle put a hand on top of Killian’s and applied just enough pressure to press it against her knee. “You feel this?” She wished she could have taken a dramatic sigh rather than sitting in silence. “I-I can’t. I have so many friends now, and I want to make sure they get that I care about them, because they’re good folk. And the idea of physical contact is nice, but it’s not the same when you can’t feel it back.” She laid her other hand over the one covering Killian’s. “Besides, who’d want to hug a big ol’ pile of metal anyway?”

“No. No, no, nope.” Killian waved her free hand, rising from the chair and stepping towards Noelle. “I can’t do much about you not having robot touch senses, but I am always down for couch piles.” Nudging her to the side just a little, she curled up on the remaining couch space, leaning into Noelle. “There.” She pulled the arm on that side out from under her and draped it over her lap, settling in.

Sliding off the arm of the chair, Carey climbed up onto the other side of the couch. “Don’t hog all the space to yourself.” Blinking twice, she lifted the one hand that had been touching Noelle up and placed it back down. “Shit, you’re warm.” In one motion, she hopped up onto the back of the couch and curled up in the space between Noelle’s back and the wall.

During this whole process, Noelle stayed as still as possible. Her body had a lot of moving parts, and she didn’t want to accidentally hurt one of them. Even as both of them appeared to relax into her, she refused to move. A gradual calm began to settle in her, but she knew it could only be a matter of minutes before they got off her anyway. She did _not_ want to be the one to ruin the moment by unsettling someone.

Five minutes passed. Ten. Fifteen.

This was getting silly.

“I appreciate this, really, but y’all don’t need to make yourselves so uncomfortable for my sake.” She still didn’t move. As much as she was verbally encouraging them to move, Noelle hoped that they just might stay if she didn’t disturb them. It felt a little like preying on their kindness, even though she told herself that Carey and Killian would be the last people to tolerate that.

Killian tried to elbow her in the chest, but just bounced off the metal plating. “Shh. No talking during couch pile time unless it’s something positive.” With that, she sat up and glanced behind them. “Besides, I think Carey’s asleep.”

A few insistent prods revealed that the dragonborn had in fact gone to sleep against the warm metal of Noelle’s shoulders, practically curled against her.

Killian smiled absently before curling back up so she was now half in Noelle’s lap. “You good?” she asked, looking up at her.

Noelle considered it for a long time.

Then, she glanced at her teammates, her friends, both soundly napping against her. Although she knew she shouldn’t be able to feel anything, if she concentrated, she could almost sense both of them where they were lying on top of her. And even if that wasn’t real, the low, calm hum of her systems, steadier than ever before, certainly was. “Yeah,” she murmured. “I think I am.”


End file.
